Subject: NEWS ABOUT CONVERSION IN LAW OF THE RELEASE DECREE
Law no. 77/2020 (Official Gazette no. 180/2020, S.O. no. 25) has been converted into Law no. 34/2020 (so-called Relaunch Decree), in force since July 19, 2020. The main changes of interest introduced during the conversion into law are summarized below.
1. Network contract with solidarity cause
A rule has been introduced, limited to 2020, which provides that the network contract may be entered into to promote the maintenance of employment levels of companies in supply chains affected by economic crises as a result of crisis situations or states of emergency declared by order of the competent authorities, for the following purposes:
- employment of workers from companies participating in the network who are at risk of losing their jobs;
- the inclusion of persons who have lost their jobs as a result of business closures or business crises;
- hiring of professional figures necessary to relaunch production activities in the crisis exit phase.
The performance of work at or on behalf of network participants is carried out through the secondment and co-determination institutions, pursuant to Article 30, paragraph 4-ter of Legislative Decree 276/2003. By Decree of the Minister of Labour, to be issued within 60 days from 19 July 2020, the relevant operating procedures will be defined. For the purposes of advertising requirements, the network contract for solidarity must be signed by digitally signed deed, with the assistance of representative employers’ organizations at national level present in the Cnel, rather than according to the usual procedures.
2. Amendment to the Business Crisis and Insolvency Code
The deadline for Srl and cooperative companies to appoint control bodies or auditors and, if necessary, to bring the memorandum and articles of association into line with the provisions, has been postponed to the date of approval of the financial statements for 2021.
3. Targeted placement
The so-called care leavers (persons who become of age while living outside the family of origin on the basis of a court order, e.g. foster care) are included in the quota of the reserve referred to in Article 18, paragraph 2, Law 68/1999 (so-called protected categories for companies over 50), to promote employability.
4. Agile work
Until the end of the state of epidemiological emergency by COVID-19, the right to carry out work services in an agile manner is recognised, on the basis of the assessments of the competent doctors, also to workers most at risk of being infected by SARS-CoV-2 viruses, due to their age or risk condition deriving from immunodepression, from the results of oncological pathologies or from the performance of life-saving therapies or, in any case, from morbidity that may characterise a situation of greater risk ascertained by the competent doctor, within the framework of the health surveillance referred to in Article 83, D. L. 34/200, provided that this modality is compatible with the characteristics of the work performance.
5. Extension of fixed-term contracts and apprenticeships
Following the possibility, in order to cope with the restart of activities as a result of the epidemiological emergency from COVID-19, to renew or extend until August 30, 2020 the fixed-term employment contracts, even in the absence of the causes provided for in Article 19, paragraph 1, Legislative Decree. 81/2015, even during periods of suspension or reduction of activity, a provision was included in the conversion that provides that the end of apprentices’ employment contracts as per articles 43 and 45, Legislative Decree 81/2015 (first and third level apprenticeship), and fixed-term employment contracts, including those under temporary contracts, is extended by a duration equal to the period of suspension of work, performed under the same contracts, as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.
6. Company relocation
Until August 17, 2020, in the event of a company transfer, the trade union procedure, if no agreement has been reached, may not last less than 45 days.
7. COVID leave
The Conversion Law extended the period of COVID-19 leave, identifying a period from March 5 to August 31, 2020, again for a maximum of 30 days. The Law also introduced the possibility of taking this leave also in hourly mode from 19 July 2020.
Inps (message no. 2902/2020) announced that the application for submitting the COVID-19 leave application in daily mode has been updated to allow the application for periods up to August 31, 2020, while the indications for the submission of the leave application in hourly mode, which may also concern periods of abstention prior to the date of submission of the same, but in any case starting from July 19, 2020, will be subsequently provided.
8. Social shock absorbers
Decree Law 52/2020 has been repealed, since the provisions contained therein have been incorporated into Decree Law 34/2020, keeping the acts and measures adopted valid and without prejudice to the effects produced and legal relations arising on the basis of the same Decree. In substance, all the provisions issued so far are confirmed, including the deadlines for the submission of applications.
Subject: INDEMNITY FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2020 PROVIDED FOR BY THE D.L. REVENUE
The so-called Relaunch Decree has provided for some specific indemnities for certain subjects: let’s see them in detail.
1. Allowances to self-employed persons for the month of May 2020
Article 84, D.L. Rilancio, provides for an indemnity of 1,000 euros for the month of May 2020 in favour of freelance professionals who were holders of a VAT registration number active on 19 May 2020, including participants in associated studies or simple companies with self-employment activities, enrolled in the Separate Account, not holders of direct pension benefits and not enrolled in other compulsory social security forms. For the purposes of access to the COVID-19 allowance for the month of May 2020, the rule provides as a requirement that the above mentioned workers have undergone a proven reduction of at least 33% of the income in the second two months of 2020, compared to the income in the second two months of 2019. For the identification of this requirement, the income is identified according to the cash principle as the difference between the income and compensation received and the expenses actually incurred in the period concerned and in the exercise of the activity, including any depreciation. To this end, the entity must submit to INPS the application in which it self-certifies that it meets the above requirement. This allowance does not contribute to the formation of income within the meaning of the Tuir. No imputed contribution credit or entitlement to the household allowance is recognised for the period of entitlement to the allowance in question.
2. Allowances to workers with a coordinated and continuous collaboration for the month of May 2020
For the month of May 2020, an indemnity of 1,000 euros is payable to workers who are members of the Separate Account, who do not have direct pension benefits and who are not members of other compulsory pension schemes and who have terminated their coordinated and continuous collaboration between 24 February and 19 May 2020, as resulting from the compulsory notices (UNILAV). This allowance does not contribute to the formation of income within the meaning of the Tuir. No imputed contribution credit or entitlement to the household allowance is recognised for the period of entitlement to this allowance.
3. Allowances for May 2020 for seasonal workers in the tourism and spa sectors
The category of seasonal employees in the tourism sector and spas is granted an allowance for the month of May 2020 of 1,000 euros. It should be noted that the allowance in question is aimed exclusively at seasonal workers who have involuntarily ceased – with the aforementioned qualification – an employment relationship between 1 January 2019 and 17 March 2020 with an employer in the tourism and spa production sectors. For the purposes of access to the COVID-19 allowance for the month of May, the aforementioned regulatory provision also provides that such workers – as of the aforementioned date of 19 May 2020 – are not holders of direct pension benefits, do not have an employment relationship and are not, moreover, holders of NASpI allowances.
Subject: CHANGES TO COVID LEAVE
The Inps, with circular no. 81/2020, illustrated the main news regarding COVID leave, as amended by Legislative Decree no. 34/2020.
In particular, the social security institution specified that:
- the extraordinary parental leave (COVID-19 leave) has been increased from 15 days to 30 days usable by the deadline of July 31, 2020 (in the light of the Conversion Law of August 31, 2020), by parents of children up to the age of 12 (50% allowance) or older and within 16 years (without entitlement to the allowance);
- as an alternative to the COVID-19 leave, parents can claim a bonus for the purchase of baby-sitting services or, alternatively, for enrolment in summer centres or supplementary childcare services, up to an overall maximum limit of €1,200 (€2,000 for specific categories);
- an additional 12 days of leave pursuant to Law 104/1992 for the months of May and June 2020.
Subject: LICENSE PROHIBITION AND UNDERTAKING INACCURACY
INL, with note no. 298/2020, provided information on the prohibition of dismissal, provided for by Article 46, Decree Law 18/2020, and amended by Decree Law 34/2020 (Relaunch Decree).
This prohibition concerns, in addition to collective redundancies, all cases of dismissal for justified objective reasons within the meaning of Article 3, Law 604/1966: not only, therefore, dismissals for economic or organizational reasons referable to the employer, but also those dismissals, concerning the legal sphere of the worker, but of an objective and not disciplinary nature.
This further subset traditionally includes dismissal for loss of qualification (e.g. driving licence for a driver or the carrying of weapons for a security guard) and dismissal for unfitness for the job.
As stated in the INL note, the unsuitability of the employee for the job requires the employer to verify the possibility of reassigning the employee to different activities that can be attributed to equivalent or lesser tasks, including through an adjustment of the company’s organisation and, therefore, the repêchage obligation makes the case in question fully comparable to the other cases of dismissal for justified objective reasons which are the subject of the prohibition.
Given, in any event, the well-established orientation on the matter, the classification as gmo, irrespective of the repêchage, removes any doubts as to whether that hypothesis can be removed from the prohibition, especially in those circumstances where unsuitability for the job is accompanied by an impossibility to relocate that worker, irrespective of the crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, either because of the particular activity carried out or because of his remaining working capacity.
The dismissal for exceeding the behavioural period, however, although based on an ontological organizational reason, is governed by a specific provision of the Civil Code, Article 2110, and, therefore, is considered not subject to Article 3, Law 604/1966, and, therefore, excluded from the prohibition.
LDP Payroll remains at your disposal for any further clarification.
Arianna De Carlo – adecarlo@ldp-payroll.com
Head of Payroll Department